July 22nd

"And there, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written." Joshua 8:32

sorry, Josh, but
we need to borrow the stone
which warns about having
any other Gods, to put under
the chair of our political choice,
and that one about honoring
our parents and their generation
we will place in their way so they
can stumble all over the place
proving we are right that folks
who are of a certain age are useless,
and those ones about not
telling falsehoods, or killing, no
cheating on those we swear to love,
and not being jealous of what others own,
well, gosh, they have just gone
out of style as far as we are concerned.
and just like that, your hopeful reminders
are ground into gravel we can walk
over on our way to foolishness
beyond imagination.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 21st

“Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.” Romans 14:10

do you ever shake your head,
drop it into your hands, and
mutter to yourself,
“how long? how long?”
for no matter who you send,
no matter who shares your words,
nor how often you repeat yourself,
we remain stubbornly insistent
that not only do we
get to judge others, and not you,
but we get to set the standards
as to who, how, and why
others around us are judged.
maybe that is why you are willing
to patiently wait, until we step
into your living room at the end of time,
just to see the look on our faces
when we see all those losers,
those deplorables, those prats,
curled up next to you on the couch,
eating the cookies you just
took out of the oven.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 20th

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10

not waiting for a committee report
or a vote of confidence,
love crosses every street
we have been told to avoid,
stepping onto those porches
and knocking on the doors
we teach ourselves to fear.
despite every voice demanding
we choose sides and not neighbors,
you whisper a different approach—
offering a heart before hearing a word,
healing wounds instead of arguing,
seeing your sibling in God, not a label.
when love is that quiet courage
to refuse harming simply to harm,
to put more chairs at the table,
to tear down walls to build wells,
then the law is fulfilled.
for when every barrier is removed,
every act of mercy replaces meanness,
then newcomers and old-timers
remember they all live
in the same neighborhood
found in God’s heart.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 19th

"So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat;" Joshua 6:20

if only it was
as easy shouting
to bring down the walls
of division and discord.
if only all it took
was the world singing
to give peace a chance.
if only it was as simple
as marching in the
light of God to end
all hatred and oppression.
if only we had to pick up
our trumpets to turn
our communities into havens
of hospitality towards all,
of healing for the broken,
of kindness offered to
the forgotten and the vulnerable.
if only . . .

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 18th

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Romans 13:1

but before we bow,
may we remember
that every seat of power
is on loan for but a moment
and rests on the foundation of dust.
for authority does not mean holiness
and power is not the same as love.
the Word who named the stars
knelt to wash the feet
of the vulnerable we ignore,
and chose to carry a cross
while never wielding a weapon.
thus, when laws brush past mercy,
when the smallest voice is silenced,
we will bend our knees
only to the God
whose justice lifts the forgotten,
whose peace confounds tyrants,
whose kingdom is based not
on any military strength
but a welcome to all, to all.
so may we always honor the good,
stand up to all that is cruel
and follow the Christ—
the One whose authority
is grounded in grace and love.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 17th

If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:18

if we depend
on blustering politicians,
we should expect more
dangerous choices;
if we depend
on bile-filled voices,
we can expect
an increase in
hate and anger;
if we depend
only on ourselves,
the odds are we'll
screw it up;
but
if we depend on
you,
we just might learn
how to live
with each other.

© Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 16th

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:2

when we have a mind
that folks need to earn
justice rather than
the privileged sharing
it freely with the forgotten
or
think kindness should on be
a random sort of thing
we do when someone needs
a door held open in the rain
but building affordable housing
doesn't seem to come
to pop into our heads
or
we believe that all is right
in the world when the rich
get breaks which bring more wealth,
when the power brokers
are never asked what is going on,
and when the celebrities
are granted permission for
all the knuckleheadness in the world,
obviously, we have a
far more skewed idea than you
as to what is good.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

July 15th

“Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.” Psalm 33:22

there are mornings
when we wake before the alarm,
our hearts already weary
of the day’s headlines even
before we learn of them
and we want simply to
pull the duvet of apathy
back over our heads.
or if we should have
to venture out, we long
to clothe ourselves in
small, skeptical, mocking lives
and wander around the world
boxed in by despair’s heaviness.
yet, you would have us
not let fear, misery, anger
control our hope or our hearts,
so help us to listen,
to get up,
to speak out,
to act as those whose lives
are so filled with your
love which never gives up
on us or anyone else,
that we become
the resistance movement
to the chaos around us.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman